Hey I'm coming in late on this thread but here is a picture of just bj spacers with tbar crank and 3" AALs on 32x11.50s... 15x10 wheels by the way

This was the next day after I installed it. It settled out quite a bit as you can see in the next picture.





Its harder to see the frame/body levels in these shots but it will give you an idea on the tire-size/lift to make your decision.





Everyone has their own opinions about suspension versus body lifts. I'm going to try to clear this up without hurting anyone's feelings because both have their advantages and disadvantages. If you are going to spend the money suspension is the way to go. In your case you are trying to stay low and run huge tires a body lift will help with that plus you wont waste money on a lift later on when you SAS.

LIFT
Body lifts allow you to fit bigger tires but do not improve ground clearance. So you will still hang up on the same small hills that you always drug your frame on. A suspension lift will help out giving room for larger tires and also a little improved ground clearance. But it raises your center of gravity more than a body lift will, increasing the chance of a flop or roll over. You have to decide what will fit your needs more...

In my case I decided to go the bj spacer route and it only ran me $230 with a realignment. But I was able to reuse my shocks. Mainly because it offered me with improved ground clearance for crossing creeks so my frame rails and tcase crossmember wouldn't drag. On the other hand a body lift will allow for a drive train tuck that can eliminate the low crossmember and protect everything a little more.

There are other ups and downs to each lift and many people will point them out due to personal preference. But these are the main things to consider when deciding on a lift.


GEARING
On the gearing note It depends on what you are going to do with the truck. If you are planning on just wheeling the truck or going with larger than 35" tires go with the lower gears. But 4.88s would be ideal if you plan on running the truck on the road especially if you will put it on the interstate. Here again personal preference and what the truck is going to be used for...

I installed 4.88s on my cousins 96 tacoma with the 2.7L 4 cylinder, he is running 35 x 12.50s. The gears returned the truck back to stock power and allows him to run a higher rate of speed without running as high RPMs as lower gears would. But then again this is not his wheeling truck, it is his baby "mall crawler" so to speak.

LOCKER
Lockright and Aussie are neck and neck in performance but recently Aussie has had better reviews with road noise and overall less problems/failing.

I hope this helps! Most of this has came from doing research on 2 different pickup builds now. So get it set up and post some pics Im ready to see what you decide on and what it looks like!

 

good post chrish. but body lifts allow you to run larger tires which in return gives you more ground clearance. Am i wrong???

 

That's true, but you only get the ground clearance netted form the tires only, whereas a suspension lift would raise the chassis so the tranny, t-case, etc. would have the clearance from the tires and from the lift. The rear diff would be the only thing that doesn't get more clearance from a suspension lift.

 

ya i hear ya brian. I do like the clearance i got from the BJ spacers. lol

 

Correct! Just think about it though. If stock tires are true 30" and you switch to true 33" tires there is a 3" difference in the tire diameter you are only gaining 1.5" lift from the tires. Regardless of if you are running them with a body lift or are running them stock height.

So if I lift my truck with a suspension lift 2" and then switch to 33s I am gaining a total of 3.5" of lift.

So again if stock is a 30" tire...to gain 3.5" of total suspension lift you would have to run 37" tires. Stock height or with a BL.


If you get my drift.

 

yeah chrish i understand your point and i like how your truck sits :p

i just put my tires up fro sale on BC4x4 so we will see if those sell, im going to try and sell some other things too, and by birthday is tomorrow so maybe i can get some extra cash and get to lifting and tires quicker.

plan so far is get bj spacers, 34" LTB's, 15x10 steelies with 3" back spacing.

after i get it to there im going to work on some 4.88's or 5.29's with lockers. gears all come down to what better deal i get. im actually leaning back to 4.88's for highway sake and i am eventually going to swap for a top shift gear case and put 4.7's in

 

you might wanna watch out running a 10" rim on a 10.50 tire. its done alot but it makes it easy to pop a bead

 

yeah maybe. think it would be better running a 15x8?

 

and happy b-day 91.

 

haha thanks man

 

ya man i would for sure get some 15x8's. look into the crager 8's. preety cheap rims

 

oh and happy b-day man.

 

Sounds like you have a good idea! I just wanted to throw all that info out there hopefully I didn't bore you.

Happy Bday! Mine is the on 20th.

 

alright i will go check them out

thanks dude

 

hahaha nah its all good dude i like when people put input in i knew most of that but you have a good point lol.

thanks dude and i guess happy bday in 16 days lol

 

lol thanks. Most people do have an idea about that stuff to but it never hurts to put it out there. People just seem to focus on why they love something or hate it and never look at the other side of things. Hence the body vs. suspension lift debate that always happens.

 

The only ground clearance you gain IS from the tires.
The lowest point of the vehicle (The front diff, or rear, idk which) is where your ground clearance is at.
Bigger tires = more ground clearance
And an IFS lift wont increase your ground clearance, ever.
So, if you lift your truck 2" with a bracket lift, or springs, or whatever.
You're still only getting 1.5" of ground clearance from the 30's to the 33's.

Body lifts will inevitably allow you to gain more ground clearance with the allowance of bigger tires.

 

Like I said, the only point that doesn't get higher (and farther away from the ground) from a suspension lift is the rear diff. That is your lowest point, but still the IFS goes up, the tranny, t-case, muffler, etc... everything else goes up. A suspension lift will allow for just as big of tires as the same size body lift will. Not sure if you're agreeing with me or trying to correct me??

 

Thanks I had forgot that the ground clearance was actually to the lowest point on the vehicle. I used that term a few times when I meant the distance to the frame.

 

well it depends...

On Hummer H1's they actually measured from the highest point, not the control arms...

And on solid axle trucks, they did measure them from the lowest point...

I know Chevy used to do it that way....

It's all bait and switch to get consumers behind something... like "full time 4WD"

There's no such thing...